A. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a mounting system for a heat exchanger of the type employing side frames used for supporting the heat exchanger, the side frames being attached to header plates at opposed ends of the heat exchanger including an arrangement wherein changes in length of the heat exchanger are accepted by the side frame attachment assembly.
By "heat exchanger" is meant a cooling unit, frequently referred to as a radiator, as used for cooling fluids, such for cooling engine cooling fluids as used on cars, trucks and stationary engines. A heat exchanger or radiator typically has a core that is formed of tubes, which may be either flat or round and which span the distance between a pair of header plates to which the opposed ends of the tubes are bonded. The core, including the tubes, header plates and fins that are typically placed perpendicular to the tubes, must be supported and for this purpose structural side frames are typically employed.
The tubes norm ally employed in heat exchangers are typically made of brass which has one coefficient of expansion while the side frames are usually made of high quality steel which have a different coefficient of expansion. Therefore, some means is required for compensating for the different rates of expansion of the core in the side frames. For background material relating to heat exchanger frame systems, reference can be had to U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,313 entitled "Radiator Frame Unit", issued Oct. 28, 1986. This United States patent is incorporated herein by reference.
For additional background material relating to heat exchangers and means for mounting heat exchangers, the following United States patents are relevant:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR TITLE ______________________________________ 2,090,345 Coy Heat Exchanger 2,932,489 Young Trussed Radiator Core-Unit 3,165,151 Astrup et al Heat-Transfer Trussed- Radiator 3,627,035 Astrup Junction Plates For Multiple Heat Exchanger Units 3,982,587 Tramontini Vehicular Radiator Assembly 4,140,177 Ivie, Sr. Protective Grid and Structural Support For A Radiator 4,230,176 Crews Floating Radiator Tank Top 4,465,126 Winterer Heat Exchanger Arrangement, Especially For Radiators For Motor Vehicles 4,619,313 Rhodes et al Radiator Frame Unit 4,899,543 Romanelli et al Pre-Tensioned Shape Memory Actuator ______________________________________